Attachment D
Keep Oakland Clean and Beautiful Illegal Dumping Unit
The Keep Oakland Clean and Beautiful Division (KOCB) of the Bureau of Environment (BOE) in Oakland Public Works, manages the Illegal Dumping Unit (IDU) that is dedicated to improving and preserving Oakland’s environment for residents and businesses through the daily removal of illegal debris from the public right of way. The IDU removes the majority of the City’s illegally dumped materials.
KOCB crews are divided into four (4) geographic operational zones:
• Zone 1: Berkeley Border to Lake Merritt, includes Districts 1 and 3 • Zone 2: Lake Merritt to High Street, includes Districts 1, 2, 4, and 5 • Zone 3: High Street to 82nd Avenue, includes Districts 4, 6, and 7 • Zone 4: 82nd Avenue to San Leandro Border, includes Districts 4, 6, and 7 This operational model improves efficiency and minimizes distances that KOCB crews must travel.
The IDU is comprised of three types of crews:
• A “reactive” crew that responds to service requests received via calls to the City’s Call Center, Oak311, or the “See Click Fix” mobile application.
• A “proactive” crew (also referred to as the “Garbage Blitz Crew” (GBC)) that provides illegal dumping services proactively to the community by removing the debris before it is reported. The GBC is deployed to “Hot Spots” then to major corridors to seek out and remove illegally dumped materials in a block-by-block approach within the assigned zone. The first GBC was deployed in Council District 6 on March 5, 2018, as a pilot program and has since expanded to cover the full city. The proactive crews also regularly pick up containerized and non-containerized debris at homeless encampments.
• Homeless encampment (HE) cleaning crews provide trash and debris removal to support critical life, health, and safety conditions in proximity to homeless encampments. The HE crews work in coordination with the Encampment Management Team (EMT), led by the City Administrator’s Office (CAO). When the EMT schedules an encampment deep cleaning or closure, the HE crews provide the debris removal services for that event in coordination with activities of other departments such as the CAO and Human Services Department.
The IDU has 58 total budgeted full-time equivalent personnel including one (1) Supervisor II position, three (3) Supervisor I positions, fifteen (15) Street Maintenance Leaders, one (1), Heavy Equipment Operator, and thirty-eight (38) Public Works Maintenance Workers.
The IDU operates a variety of equipment including five (5) large packers, five (5) mini packers, one (1) drop box truck, one (1) lighting loader, and one (1) single person ariel bucket lift truck.
KOCB crews complete thousands of illegal dumping service requests and work orders each year. When an individual contacts the City’s OAK311 Call Center to report an issue, a service request is created to which the appropriate City crew(s) responds. When a service request is completed, staff create a work order for the service in order to track it. Work orders are also created for every debris pile picked up by the GBC and for each homeless encampment cleaned; as a result, the annual volume of work orders is higher than the annual number of service request. In fiscal year (FY) 2021-2022, crews completed 26,917 service requests and 46,415 work orders.